


You Can Dance If You Want To

by netflixismyroomie



Series: Basically Homophones, Not Quite Homonyms [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-02-12
Packaged: 2018-09-23 16:29:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9665516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/netflixismyroomie/pseuds/netflixismyroomie
Summary: Vox Machina attends King Uriel Tal’Dorei’s feast for the Briarwoods. They are all assigned reconnaissance missions but some are more suited to their tasks than others.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I just finished episode 23 and wanted to write this before I watch episode 24 and learn what actually happens at this feast. I hope there’s dancing.

Keyleth was on floor duty with Vax and Vex. Scanlan had taken up post near the band. He fit in there, collaborating on his flute, harmonizing with the other bards, taking a few too many solos, flirting with any and everyone who caught his eye. His argument was the band has a fantastic vantage point. He wasn’t wrong but it was difficult for the others to tell if he was using that vantage to survey and keep watch or to entertain and attract. They suspected it was the latter.

Tiberius stood out amidst the crowd of conversing party-guests, one of few dragonborns and slightly overdressed, an astonishing feat considering formal attire was required. “Stormwinds must represent themselves and their name appropriately,” he huffed when Scanlan joked that if he was going to dress that well he ought to also prestidigitate his scales gold. He spoke animatedly with a couple of dwarves, a half-elf, and a human, Arcanist Allura Vysoren. His main task was crowd control. He had one of the earrings so if he was needed they’d tell him and he’d get the non-combatants to safety. For now he was welcome to socialize as desired and he was happily doing so. Percy was somewhere else in the crowd, flitting about, keeping low. Keyleth couldn’t see him at the moment, which was just as well; she suspected at least Vex had him in her sights.

Grog was, well, near one of the garden doors at the moment. They didn’t assign him a job before they left, not knowing exactly how he’d react to such a soiree.  _ Good call _ , Keyleth thought as he shifted uncomfortably, tugging at the collar of his dress shirt. He tried to strike up a conversation with Lady Kima when they’d arrived but a couple minutes later Keyleth saw Kima skittering off blushing, Grog still standing by the entrance looking very confused.

That left Keyleth and the stealth twins to scout the dance floor, spinning through the sea of bodies in motion, blending with the blur, meeting and memorizing the guests as they danced with the rest of the graceful. Or at least that’s what Vex and Vax were doing. As soon as they arrived, Vax took his sister’s hand and led her out on the dance floor, stepping seamlessly into the waltz the band was playing. They each had switched partners at least ten times in as many minutes. And then there was Keyleth. Still off to the side of the dance floor. Having turned down enough men that most of the guests determined she didn’t actually intend to participate in the dancing. She had yet to make up her mind on that. When planning their reconnaissance for the evening, Vex, Tiberius, and Percy asserted that all those with formal dance training should partake in the dancing, where they were most likely to make a casual acquaintance with a Briarwood. However Percy was given a pass for fear that an “acquaintance” with a Briarwood would be more than casual. And Tiberius was given a pass for clumsiness. Apparently when Tiberius stepped on a dance partner’s foot it was dangerous but when Keyleth did so it was endearing.

So that left Keyleth, standing in the most traditionally awkward position at a dance, completely shirking her assignment as dancer-spy.  _ And failing her status as an Ashari on her AraMentei _ , she berated herself. And she was high-born! She was trained for this, raised for it even. She caught Vax’s eyes and his  _ well, come on  _ smile. Then he turned back to his dance partner, a smiling, blonde elf, obviously enjoying herself in his company. Vax appeared to be enjoying himself as well, smiling up into her face between barely noticeable glances about the floor. Keyleth kicked herself once more and set her jaw. If Vax could do this then so could she. She even knew the dance the band was playing.

She walked over to a man she’d already turned down twice. If she squinted he looked a bit like Kashaw and was obviously excited by her approach so this couldn’t be too terrible. He led her out to the floor and took her waist. He was a decent dancer and she did remember the steps to this jig. She scanned the crowd for Vax. She saw the blonde elf first, head thrown back in laughter, mirth and lust filling her eyes. When the dance spun she caught a glance of Vax as well, grinning in enjoyment of the elf.

She felt a shoe beneath hers and heard a soft grunt. She’d stepped on a toe. Her partner’s toe. Looking back at him he appeared merely bemused, irritated more at her ignoring his attempts at conversation than at her clumsiness. She smiled meekly and apologized, “Sorry,” at which point he beamed. And launched back into his explanation of the new trading routes he was helping plan.

Trying to better maintain the appearance of engaging in this conversation, she glanced surreptitiously about the room and found Vex dancing with Asum Emring. Watching their faces closely she could see that despite smiles and flirtatious eyes they were talking intently, likely updating each other on what they’d seen so far. She should get an update too. From Vax. He would be the best to update her. If only she could find him.

The dance ended and her partner bid her adieu.  _ Time to catch Vax _ , she thought, the instant before her hand was taken by a smiling half-orc in elegant red dress robes and spun into the next waltz. Her mind twirled with her, taken off guard, her plan briefly upended. Then righted again when she realized that she knew this dance as well, perhaps better than the first, and there was a choreographed partner swap every couple of minutes. If she could find Vax in time, she could swap then. She just needed to find him first.

Again, the blonde elf caught her eye, guiding her to the dark hair and deep purple dress robes of the rogue. They were still dancing together. She couldn’t see what Vax made of this but the elf was clearly pleased with herself. Keyleth slowly shifted herself and her partner towards the two of them, not as gracefully as she’d hoped but without obviously irritating the half-orc, the elf’s yellow hair a lighthouse on the sea of dancers. They fell into step with the small circle in which Keyleth’s quarry danced just before the partner change.

Keyleth spun into Vax’s arms and stared over his shoulder, never meeting his eyes, keeping on the lookout for unwanted observers. His left hand caught her waist and his right her hand. She heard him inhale to speak but cut him off.

“So far one person of interest,” Keyleth whispered, still looking off into the distance, her cheek next to his, breathing the words into his pointed ear. “A human man in a navy dress shirt with silver trimming. He’s part of planning trade routes. Might know something about what’s happening between here and Whitestone.” She felt Vax’s breath on her neck, shivered, gulped, and continued, heat flushing to the tips of her pointed ears. “We should see if Tiberius can talk to him about it.” She felt the half-elf nod in agreement, his ear brushing the side of her forehead. She gulped again and said, “He’s rather intent on dancing through so perhaps we should get Vex to dance with him. He’s across the dance floor, about ten couples behind you.”

They spun. “I see him,” Keyleth’s partner replied. “I’ll grab him for the next song.” Keyleth’s brow furrowed and her nose crinkled at the sound of her partner’s voice. That wasn’t Vax. That was--

She felt a toe, not a shoe, beneath her foot and hear small gasp. Looking down at her feet she saw her partner’s dress slippers mirrored her own, though dark purple with a significantly taller heel. She felt the heat spread from hear ears across her cheeks at she looked up at Vex’ahlia’s face, the ranger staring across Keyleth’s shoulder, her new target in her sights.  _ Fuck _ .


End file.
